First World Problems - NDRV3 Non-Despair AU
by underacorktreeagain
Summary: The 16 students of the 53rd Killing Game semester are not forced to kill each other to escape. No, these students are forced to get along, make high marks, and graduate from the most prestigious academy in the country. Now, the stress of your junior year really can kill you, but will the forged bonds between these students be enough to tide them over? [Harukaito/Saimatsu/Kiiruma]


The lights on the sign of the convenience store flicker, reflecting off the puddles in the bumpy parking lot. Despite it being two o'clock in the morning, the clamor made by the people inside the shop was louder than the patter of the heavy rain on the windows. Shuichi Saihara was quietly waiting outside on a wet bench, Kaede Akamatsu sitting beside him. The hush was thick, nothing being said between them, just thinking in dead silence. For anyone, this would be torturously awkward, but they enjoyed just being next to each other.

"How long does it fuckin' take to pick out a bag of chips for your idiotic taste buds, Rantaro?" Miu cussed, leaning against the aisle scrolling through an app on her phone. "The gates to the academy close at exactly five o'clock AM! From our current location, Hope's Peak Academy is twenty-six minutes away! The time as of now is two thirty-three, so Rantaro has about two hours and eleven minutes to finish his selection!" Kiibo spouted, carefully watching Rantaro's hand glide across the potato chip selection. He exercised the GPS and timer function Miu installed on him with little-to-no caution.

"Well, he has ten motherfucking seconds before I clock him and leave him in the bathroom unconscious!" The inventor growled, not exactly under her breath. Rantaro shrugged, grabbing two different bags off the shelf and holding them in his arms. The group pushed to the counter, dropping their snacks on it to check out, Kiibo grabbing a pack of gum and dropping it on the pile of food. From the drinks aisle came Kaito and Maki holding the beverages everyone preferred.

A girl about their age was working the register, too tangled up in whatever game she was playing on her handheld game system. Her bangs were unkempt, pink hair tangled up in her large headphones. Bags were under the eyes she didn't take off of her screen, looking like she hadn't slept in days. They all waited there for a minute before Miu was the first one to open her mouth, as per usual.

"Hey, bitchtits!" She looked down to read her nametag, slamming her fist on the table. "Hey, CHIAKI!" Shouting, Miu flapped her hand between Chiaki and her game screen. The tired girl blinked, slowly beginning to scan their items with a sluggish manner. "If you could go a little faster than an old fart on a backroad, we'd appreciate it. This gorgeous girl genius and her precious brain cells are slowly rotting, and we'd alllll like to make it back to Hope's Peak before we have to sleep outside our dorms." She enunciated the academy's name, either to flex or she thought that'd make the scanning tempo bump up a few notches.

With lidded eyes, Chiaki turned up from the items and glared at Miu with her pink eyes. "I know, I go there too." She didn't seem all too happy but continued to scan their items as fast as her tired hands could. All of Miu's bitchiness washed away, and she nervously fiddled with the ends of her hair, squeaking out a simple "s-sorry" that the poor girl didn't even hear. Kiibo grabbed the bags off the counter and gave her a sincere apology on Miu's behalf, who was still a little shaken. Everyone in the group trudged out of the doors to see Kaede and Shuichi sitting in Saihara's PT Cruiser, making conversation over the low volume music on the radio.

They seem to have migrated due to the rain.

"Hey, Kaediot! Tired of Poo-Ichi's micro, so you're sticking with idle chitter-chatter? Good move, good move!" Miu hissed, hopping into the middle row of seats in the car. Then followed Kaito, Maki, and Rantaro gunning for the way-back seats, and finally Kiibo who'd waited patiently for everyone else to pile in before buckling his seatbelt parallel to Miu. Shuichi and Kaede didn't mind their friend's crude comments, in fact, they snickered gleefully without detaching. Everyone in the car was quiet, even if it was just for a second. Pure silence.

In the back was Rantaro swiping through an app on his phone, screen light brightening his creamy skin with blue light, his jaded eyes skimmed over his screen. With a yawn, Kaito pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around Maki, who was asleep on his shoulder so still that she looked dead. Unable to take the sight of her, he darted his eyes around the car before setting them on the stars outside. As the Luminary of the Stars, the night sky was one of his specialties.

_'Focus on the Big Dipper. Or is that the Little Dipper? Big. Definitely big.'_

In the middle row of seats, Kiibo was watching the other cars go by with tired and lidded eyes. His sleep-deprived robot eyes were lighting up, reflecting off of the window, making him look like a car with its headlights on. Tapping his shoulder, Miu showed him something on her phone that made her howl with laughter, briefly making Maki toss and turn. With a polite smile, the robot coughed out a few fake chuckles before averting his eyes elsewhere. This caused Miu to sigh, and try to explain the joke.

"So Keebs, do you know that like," she paused for a second, then turned to her phone to quickly search up an image of a comic. "Comic. This one? With the woman who had a miscarriage and the guy busts in-" she stopped when her words were met with a horrified expression on his part.

"That's awful Miu! That's truly awful!"

Shaking her head, Miu rolled her eyes and went back to tapping through her phone, fits of cackles here and there. Leaning on his metal hand, Kiibo continued to stare out the window, the pitter-patter of the rain a lullaby to his sleepy ears.

_'What strange lives humans live.'_

Stuck in a strong pang of focus, Shuichi gripped the wheel of his car with both hands, knuckles turning white from the pressure on them. Noticing this, Kaede shifted her gaze from the road ahead of them to his face, the furrowed brows and turned down lips. Narrowing a calculated stare at Shuichi's face, Kaede watched his milky skin wrinkle from his expression. Reaching out a finger, she fixed some of the boy's smudged eyeliner with her fingernail. Flinching at the touch, Shuichi's features wrinkled once more and nudged her away with a hit from his cheek. Pouting, Kaede raised an eyebrow.

"What's got you so glum, Saihara? Tired?" It was funny, he was calm earlier, but now languid to Kaede's touch. "I just... don't like driving in the rain is all." Squinting more in an attempt to get a better view between the drops of rain, the pianist would call his bluff. "You love the rain!" Jostling him slightly, Kaede realized the bags under his eyes, seeing he was tired.

"Ah! You just don't like driving when you're sleepy!" Snapping her fingers, Kaede's excitement made her voice a little loud, grabbing the attention of everyone else in the car. A bashful grin curved her lips, "perhaps you aren't the only detective here, Shuichi!" The tone in her voice was infectious, sickly sweet to the boy's sleep-deprived ears. Keeping his eyes straight ahead, his right hand touches where Kaede did. It burned hot, but it'd been the first bit of welcomed human touch he felt in a while.

_'Promise I won't break your heart.'_

The car was an ecosystem; swirling with different conversations fluctuating in tone and topics. In the backseat were the silent exchanges between Kaito, Maki, and Rantaro. Well, it had to be silent. Maki was dead asleep, Kaito was forced to stay still from her leaning on him, and Rantaro was bored by their antics. There in the middle was Miu and Kiibo, one goofing off on her phone and the other trying to keep his eyes open. But in the front seats, it was both loud and quiet. Kaede and Shuichi seemed like they could communicate telepathically sometimes, being able to sit next to each other and talk without saying words. Of course, their communication was loud as well, the pianist being cheery and loud whether it be talking about piano or trying to be serious.

Headlights lit up the large academy like small spotlights on a big stage, the car sputtering as it rolled up to one of the gate guard booths. A gruff man, tired with a cigarette sticking out from between his lips, knocked on Shuichi's raindrop stained window. Fastening his cap, Shuichi rolled down his window and looked to the gate guard. Assuming he was asking for his license, he dove his hand into his pocket and fished around for his wallet.

"Show me your school IDs." The man grunted out, greying eyebrows furrowing as he glanced around the kids in the car. "And I'd like to see your license." Motioning his head toward Shuichi, he felt his stomach acid wear away a little hole in him. From a lack of nerve or a distant memory, he couldn't tell you. With trembling hands, Saihara took his school ID and license out from his wallet, grimacing at the awful photo of him. Handing his cards to the guard, he pulled his black hat down further on his forehead.

Wincing from the flashlight that was beamed on his tired eyes, the man nodded and handed his cards back, having an unwavering focus on Shuichi even after. Kaede handed her ID to the man, gasping when she got the light shined in her eyes as well. It was all one by one, IDs and lights in the face. Kaito, whose jacket was around Maki, was struggling to reach his pocket where his card was. Reaching his hand out awkwardly, trying to snake its way into the coat pocket right by Maki's hip.

Quick as gunpowder, she flicked her wrist and grabbed Kaito's, applying pressure on him with her sharp fingernails.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing, Space Cowboy?" A low growl left her lips, twisting Kaito's arm to make the position it was in far worse. Rantaro, a bystander in all of this, was a little confused but intrigued to watch this all play out how it was. Squeaking in pain, Kaito wriggled to get himself out of the grip, making her squeeze harder.

"Answer me."

Spitting venom, glaring daggers.

"C'mon Maki Roll! You know I wasn't doing anything out of line! The- The gate guard needs my ID! Quit screwin' around!" Kaito groaned, able to pull himself out of the death grip. Digging his hand back into his lavender jacket's pocket, he pulled out his ID card and showed her. "See! ID! Why don't you get your's out too."

Huffing his cheeks, Kaito lunged forward to hand his card to Shuichi. Leaning back, he crossed his arms over his chest, Maki doing the same as Kaito but with a more bashful expression. Both of them seemed to be wide awake by now. The silence was broken by the guard guy grunting then saying something like "sounds about right," before handing Maki's ID back to Shuichi.

Feeling Kaito's jacket draped over her shoulder, she tugged at it a tad, wishing she could cover her face with it and disappear. Those words from the gate guard about how it 'sounded about right'... what did he mean? However, she knew she didn't fall asleep in his jacket, which made her wonder if he...

The car started moving again, and it made everything dribble out of her head like water in her ears. Looking to Kaito, watching him pout, it was easy to tell he was being huffy just to be huffy. They locked eyes, he was looking at her and her looking at him, which made his expression and features soften.

"Sorry, Maki Roll. Didn't mean to get all mad and stuff," running a finger or two through his hair, Kaito put on a dumb expression. But she didn't respond, her eyes were staring out the window as Shuichi parked the car in his parking spot. She was meticulously scanning the cars around them to have something to focus on. Something besides Kaito.

The first one to get out of the vehicle was Kiibo, who stood beside the door to hold it open, the bag from the convenience store in his hand. "Wooooow Keebs, guess chivalry isn't dead now, is it?" Miu commented as she always does. She always had a comment for something no matter the situation. Kiibo just nodded, continuing to keep the door propped open for the rest. Rantaro got out, while Maki and Kaito stayed behind for a moment, spacing out on anything besides each other.

"Guys." Rantaro snapped in front of their faces, and they finally came back to reality. Maki swiftly hopped over the row of seats, followed by a far less swift Kaito. After everyone exited, they made their way back into the Academy building.

The Academy itself was a sight at night. Most of the windows showed lights turned off, showing the person inside was either asleep or out. Some were visiting home for the long weekend, and others always stayed back at the school. One by one, each person scanned their card against the scanner, and one by one each hurried inside to escape the pelting rain. Shuichi stared at a puddle, watching the rain hit it and ripple.

"Shuichi, you're gonna catch a cold from being out here." Kaede's voice was assertive as she tugged at the back of his pinstriped jacket, but he didn't budge. Grabbing his clammy hand and pulling him to the door, she was thrown off by him acting strange.

"Shuichi, what's wrong? Don't say it's nothing this time, something is clearly making you upset."

"It's nothing, Kaede."


End file.
